Landfill expansion nixed

Wednesday

Sep 25, 2013 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - San Joaquin County supervisors voted down a controversial proposal to expand the Forward Landfill on the southern outskirts of Stockton, coming down on the side of opponents who railed against the project for concerns about pollution, smell and the impact on the county's agricultural industry.

Zachary K. Johnson

STOCKTON - San Joaquin County supervisors voted down a controversial proposal to expand the Forward Landfill on the southern outskirts of Stockton, coming down on the side of opponents who railed against the project for concerns about pollution, smell and the impact on the county's agricultural industry.

But in the end, the long fight over the possible expansion of the landfill within 10,000 feet of the county-owned Stockton Metropolitan Airport likely came down to birds. Landfills can attract birds. And for a plane in midflight, collisions can be deadly.

Opponents said the expansion so near the airport was a potent mix for disaster, while Forward officials said they have shown that birds drawn to the landfill have been kept at bay with falconry and airborne firecrackers.

"The primary issue comes to aircraft safety," county Supervisor Bob Elliott said before the vote. "The question is: Do we believe that this bird-control program will provide zero risk for bird strikes related to the landfill?"

The possibility of expansion went down on a 2-3 tally, with Elliott joining Supervisors Steve Bestolarides and Ken Vogel voting to stop the expansion plan. Supervisors Carlos Villapudua and Larry Ruhstaller voted in favor of letting the plan move forward.

It would have taken four votes to override the county Airport Land Use Commission, which had already determined the expansion was not consistent with a 1993 plan for the airport, primarily because of the increased potential for bird strikes. Local, state and federal agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration, had also raised concerns about the potential risk.

But the county stands to lose landfill fees, rates to dump garbage could rise, and jobs beyond just those employed at Forward could be at risk if it is not able to expand, Villapudua said. The company has said it would be at capacity in about eight years without the expansion. Villapudua also praised the work Forward had done to clean up problems - like polluted groundwater - that it inherited with previous landfills on the site.

After the vote, Forward General Manager Kevin Basso said the company will weigh its options on what it will do next. The landfill is owned by Allied Waste, one of the country's largest waste haulers. Forward handles refuse from Manteca, Lathrop, Stockton and Ripon, but 72 percent of its trash comes from outside the county, though that percentage varies, he said.

The issue has been simmering for years, and Tuesday's vote followed more than four hours of testimony and comment.

Forward lined up experts, including an expert with a Ph.D. in bird behavior who said the number of seagulls feeding at the landfill had been reduced from 3,000 to zero in three years. Proponents were joined by nearly a dozen representatives from local businesses, including a trucking firm, a hospital and some from the canning industry who said their food-processing operations could not operate without Forward and would take a hit if rates rose.

"We desperately need to see this resolved so we can continue with our long-term projects," said Ron Noack of Unilever, which operates a tomato-processing facility. "If we don't have a home for our ag waste, it's a show-stopper."

Opponents included landowners, farmers and pilots, including one who brought in a windscreen to show the board all that can stand between a pilot and a bird in flight.

Dave Phippen, a Manteca almond farmer, said Forward is a good facility, but it's just in the wrong place. And he said it wouldn't fill so quickly if it didn't take in so much trash from out of the county. "Is that really your vision for this county? That we're going to take all this waste from other counties?"